First baseman Jerrud Sabourin broke out of a slump to drive in four runs in an 8-3 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Sunday afternoon at Five County Stadium. Sabourin, hitting .148 in July, tripled in three in the first and drove in another for the Carolina Mudcats (14-14, 36-62).

The Carolina Mudcats fell behind early, and despite a fervent rally fell to the Winston Salem Dash 8-7 on Saturday night. The loss drops Carolina’s record to 13-14 in the second half and 35-62 overall.

Coming off a 14 inning marathon win on Thursday night, the Carolina Mudcats showed no signs of a hangover, defeating the Winston Salem Dash 4-0 Friday night at Five County Stadium. The win brings the Mudcats’ second half record back to .500 at 13-13, and 35-61 overall.

The Cleveland organization got homer-happy Thursday night, as Lake County led the way with four home runs on their own. None of those shots could overshadow what happened with Carolina, however, as the team hit their first walk-off home run of the season. To find out walked off for the Mudcats and everything else you need to know about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

The Carolina Mudcats earned an extra-inning win against the Winston-Salem Dash 5-2 at Five County Stadium Thursday night. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Mudcats and gave the team its first walk-off home run of the season. The teams traded runs throughout regulation until a three-run inning for the Mudcats in the 14th.

Well not that Colon, obviously. While Tony is off having fun on vacation, Jim Piascik fills in, analyzing High-A Carolina right-hander Joseph Colon's return from injury and his development, admires and breaks down the progress Double-A outfielder Carlos Moncrief has made in 2013, checks in with Aeros manager Edwin Rodriguez on how a dozen of his players are doing and what changes they are making, and provides insight and information on the likes of Alex Monsalve, Bryson Myles, Dorssys Paulino, Nellie Rodriguez, D'Vone McClure, and more!

Nellie Rodriguez struggled at Lake County early in the season, making it was clear that the organization pushed the first baseman too quickly. After he was moved down to Mahoning Valley, Rodriguez looked better and started to produce, not that anyone could have seen Wednesday night coming. Rodriguez turned in a career performance, and to read all about it and the rest of the action from the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

The Carolina Mudcats began a four-game home series against the Winston-Salem Dash with an 8-3 loss at Five County Stadium Wednesday night. A season-high three home runs felled the Mudcats, whose bullpen struggled to contain the Dash offense.

Now that we have hit the All-Star break and more than half the season is over, it felt right to have an updated prospect ranking on IBI. Since Tony will be putting in a ton of work ranking the prospects for 2014 soon enough, Jim Pete and Jim Piascik both ranked their top prospects and then merged their lists into one. Part one of that list is after the jump, as well as the two Jims' e-mail chain as they justified their rankings to each other.

The Frederick Keys scored six times in the first inning and pulled away for a 12-2 win over the Carolina Mudcats on Monday night at Harry Grove Stadium. The Keys (10-13, 44-49) salvaged a split of the four-game series and the Mudcats (11-12, 33-60) finished the road trip 4-3.

There are all sorts of goodies in this week’s Minor Happenings report. Tony takes a look at the strides that Triple-A Columbus right-handed reliever Bryan Price has made and if he is on the major league radar, he puts versatile Low-A Lake County infielder Erik Gonzalez under the prospect microscope, he provides a ton of comments from the front office on players up and down the Single-A Mahoning Valley roster, and provides insight and information on the likes of Cord Phelps, Trey Haley, Cody Anderson, LeVon Washington, Matt LaPorta and more!

Outfielders Tyler Naquin and Jordan Smith played critical roles in a 5-3 win for the Carolina Mudcats on Sunday night at Harry Grove Stadium. The pair combined for six hits against the Frederick Keys as the Mudcats (11-11, 33-59) returned to .500 in the second half.

Indians outfield prospect Tyler Naquin is having a very good first full season at High-A Carolina. He has shown off his hitting skills, exceptional arm, and rapidly improving defense in center field. There is talk a promotion may be coming for him very soon, but in the meantime there are a few things he is working on. The IBI's Zachary Francis recently caught up with him and had a long conversation about his season, what he is working on and more.

There was no escaping the powerful storms that pushed through Northeast Ohio Wednesday night, as the Mudcats were delayed during their game in Virginia. The Mudcats were in the middle of an offensive outburst when the rains came down and, after the tarp was rolled back up, they continued assaulting the opposition. The Eastern League All-Star game in New Britain, Connecticut was also delayed, though there were fewer fireworks in that game. To read all about the night in the minor leagues, join Jim Piascik and go Around The Farm.

The Carolina Mudcats came back from a Tuesday night shutout to beat the Lynchburg Hillcats 15-8, at Calvin Falwell Field. The Mudcats improved to 9-10 this half and 31-58 overall and the Hillcats dropped to 5-12 this half and 41-45 overall.

The Carolina Mudcats ended a four-game winning streak with a 4-0 loss to the Lynchburg Hillcats Tuesday night. The Mudcats set a franchise record with 16 strikeouts in their second game in a series at Calvin Falwell Field.

Tony takes a look at 10 of the hottest hitters in the organization from Double-A Akron to rookie level Arizona – some names you know well and some you don’t. The players are not ranked, but are listed by level and include the likes of Tyler Holt, Jose Ramirez, Joey Wendle, Jeremy Lucas, Dorssys Paulino, Anthony Santander, Logan Vick, Nellie Rodriguez, Clint Frazier and Joel Mejia. He provides insight into what kind of prospect each player is, their upside, their strengths and weaknesses, and some statistical trends as well.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!